


case one: kaneki ken

by wartransmission



Series: a study on human behavior [1]
Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Second person POV, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-04-06 19:13:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4233456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wartransmission/pseuds/wartransmission
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It all starts with those sounds. The <em>click-click</em> of metal before the sound of your screams, before the slick sound of blood spurting and pooling at your feet, and before your mind goes off to a world of its own- almost shutting down but not quite, never completely, because there’s still the burning feeling of pain (so much, <em>so much</em>) all over your skin, in your fingers and in your toes when he snaps the pliers around the joints of your hands and feet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	case one: kaneki ken

**Author's Note:**

> This is a drabble based on the torture Kaneki underwent while with Yamori, so. **TW for torture.**
> 
> I’ve always wanted to try writing something based on the stuff I learned from my classes in uni and from my psychology books, and this fic is a start for it. I’ll be working on this using other fandoms too because I am absolutely sure that I’d get bored midway if I stuck to just one (lol).
> 
> Hope you guys like the mini-lessons on Behavioral Science! (Also, note; I’m still a student, so there’s still the possibility that I’ll understand my lessons in another way or I’ll get some things wrong. And it’s exactly why I encourage y’all to read up on psychology; bc it’s fun and you get to learn new stuff!)

It all starts with those sounds. The  _click-click_  of metal before the sound of your screams, before the slick sound of blood spurting and pooling at your feet, and before your mind goes off to a world of its own- almost shutting down but not quite, never completely, because there’s still the burning feeling of pain (so much,  _so much_ ) all over your skin, in your fingers and in your toes when he snaps the pliers around the joints of your hands and feet.

It starts with the dull slap of leather against cold tiles, of footsteps heavy on the ground and in your ears when he starts talking about what he wants to do with you. It starts when the noise in your ears fades just after the  _click_  of metal against metal, starts when the static replaces his voice in your head and everything becomes either a stark white or a dull black.

It starts when you feel yourself shutting down, your senses trying to white-out your thoughts and your feelings before your heart can go tachycardic in its beating at the sound of the pliers clicking ominously in his hand.

It starts with a  _click._

The sound of leather, then,

_Click. Click._

You jerk when you hear it. You’re quivering even before he can reach you, mind already shutting down and going away- to a safe place, to your make-believe haven- just before he can start talking. Your thoughts are blank, void of true feeling, and everything is white noise inside your head when he starts clipping off your fingers

one.

By.

_One._

You’re crying while you subtract sevens for him.

“Nine-hundred fifty-one...”

_Crack._

Sobbing, voice reaching a pitch that’s almost a scream, “Nine-hundred forty-four..!”

He laughs when he breaks another finger.  _Click. Crack._

Everything is white. Even when you close your eyes, even when you try to shut everything out, even when Rize starts whispering in your ear, everything is blindingly  _white._

“You lie so well to yourself,” she says in a giggle while you sob, her delicate fingers feeling like death on your shoulders when another finger is broken off. “You’re becoming better at this, Kaneki-kun.”

 _Click_.

You quiver.

 _Crack_.

“N-nine…nine-hundred thirty-seven,” you cry out, a sick feeling rising from your stomach up to your throat, making it hard to breath until you swallow back the bile clogging your throat.

_Click._

You’re shaking now. You’re a bloodied _mess_ , and you try not to laugh at the pull of insanity reaching from your heart up to your mind because it would be so easy, so  _easy_  to let your mind go and succumb to blissful numbness. You could escape your mind even if you couldn’t escape this punishment; you could pretend that none of this was  _real_ , your body only a vessel for your weary soul, and nothing would hurt.

But he won’t let that happen.

“Nine-hundred thirty!” you scream, voice going hoarse and quiet before rising to a shriek when he quickly  _snips_  off your biggest toe, his laughter ringing in your ears and overlapping with the sound of your choked-off sobs.

_Click-click._

You scream again when he breaks off another toe. Vaguely, you can feel the sticky mess of blood dripping from your hands and feet, the flow of your tears nigh endless as he gives you a moment to breathe through the torture. Fear clouds your mind and clutches at your chest, drawing the air out of your lungs when you realize that he’s waiting for you to heal again.

_Click._

You’re crying out before he can even snap anything off, calling for help, calling for mother, and he  _laughs_  like there is no greater amusement than your squirming form, as though your bloodied limbs and tear-streaked face are not as grotesque as they are  _entertaining._

You choke out a cry of help again, desperately wishing for someone to save you, even when you know that it’s futile.

Rize laughs as she settles at your side. She doesn't care- never has, not even thinking it as something entertaining as she does think it as something to pass the time. Something to blink her eyes at as though it were a normal scene, as if you weren't being slowly killed by the man standing in front of you.

Again, he holds up his blood-stained pliers, grin wide and feral as you watch him with wide eyes and a trembling mouth.

 _Click_.

You scream, and everything becomes red.

**Author's Note:**

> Lesson one:
> 
> Classical conditioning is a learning process, where you gain a conditioned response to something (e.g. a person, a color, a sound). This conditioned response is a learned response to a previously neutral stimulus, which occurs through the repeated pairing of the neutral stimulus to an unconditioned stimulus.
> 
> In this case, Kaneki gained a conditioned response to the clicking of Yamori’s pliers. The unconditioned stimulus is the pain brought by his fingers being broken off by those pliers. The neutral stimulus is the sound of the pliers clicking. Kaneki gained a conditioned response (i.e. becoming scared when he hears the clicking) because it always signals how Yamori will start with his torture.
> 
>  
> 
> [More info on conditioned responses!](http://psychology.about.com/od/cindex/g/condresp.htm)
> 
>  
> 
> Lesson one-point-five:
> 
> Dissociation describes a wide array of experiences that can range from mild detachment to one’s surroundings to more severe detachment from emotional and physical experiences. In this case, dissociation is implied in how Kaneki tries to disconnect from his surroundings-- the pain being caused on his body, the blood, and all the other details regarding Yamori and his surroundings. You’ll notice that I never really described Yamori, or how the place looked like while Kaneki was being tortured, and so on. That’s because Kaneki is trying to detach himself from what’s currently happening to him.
> 
> Dissociation can be a form of psychological defense- a defense mechanism- in cases of severe stress, which is exactly what’s happening here for Kaneki. 
> 
> The hallucinations are not only a symbolism for Kaneki’s change; they also serve as a sign of Kaneki disconnecting from his current reality so that he can temporarily escape the pain caused by Yamori’s torture.
> 
> Feel free to message me on my [side-blog](http://lakeinyoureyes.tumblr.com/ask) if you want to know more! <3


End file.
